Great to be Back Racing Again

My previous races were back before Xmas last year so it's been a long time since I had a good chance to race.

This week, I'm in Bruksvallarna, Sweden where the end of season races are being held. The racing is over 4 days and it's a race meet I've been to before as you get to see some of the big names in XC skiing appear. This year it's triple Olympic gold medalist Dario Cologna who is the headline act.

I've got 4 races over the 4 days, 2 of which are points races for me. First up was the 1k sprint race. I'm in the Junior category which is basically up to 21 years old. As I'm only 16, I wasn't expecting to make it through the 1st stage, but I gave it my all and was pleased with my overall result. Points wise, it was a little disappointing as again I was measured against the 19/20 year old who won but still it was a good experience.

Tonight is the 100 supersprint - it's basically a drag race and it's to see who can power the 100 metres the fastest using mainly upper body strength to double pole. Its an open competition so I could be head to head with Dario - you never know.

Saturday's race is a 30km distance race - I'm kind of dreading it as I've never raced that distance before and my goal is just to complete the race. It's going to be a long slog but looking forward to crossing the line.

Finally, there is a fun downhill race on the Sunday which I've done a couple of times before. It's great fun and not to be taken seriously - as long as I stay in one piece I'll be fine and a great way to end the season.

The race camp is great. The accommodation is like staying in an Ikea catalogue and is a brilliant base, plenty of space to chill and relax between training sessions. I've paired up with teammate Duncan Gibb for this one and hoping to learn a lot from his experience. He's a couple of years ahead of me in racing.

I managed to capture a little video of my start and finish of the 1k sprint. We don't normally get TV on our races but the power of the internet means these guys cover the races for the Swedish public - not much to see but you can see that I was pretty out of breath at the end of the race.

I'll update you later on my other races and if I survived the downhill finale. In the meantime, I'm catching up on some quality recovery sessions.